October 1, 2012

If you place 32 metronomes on a static object and set them rocking out of phase with one another, they will remain that way indefinitely. Place them on a moveable surface, however, and something very interesting (and very mesmerizing) happens, notes io9.

The metronomes in this video fall into the latter camp. Energy from the motion of one ticking metronome can affect the motion of every metronome around it, while the motion of every other metronome affects the motion of our original metronome right back. All this inter-metranome “communication” is facilitated by the board, which serves as an energetic intermediary between all the metronomes that rest upon its surface. The metronomes in this video (which are really just pendulums, or, if you want to get really technical, oscillators) are said to be “coupled.”

The math and physics surrounding coupled oscillators are actually relevant to a variety of scientific phenomena, including the transfer of sound and thermal conductivity.

Comments (7)

It takes longer than a month. It part of our circadian cycles. You’ll still get cat fights, after they synch. In terms of evolution, it’s advantageous for children to be reared at the same time. It also explains men being aroused by women who have a sexual relationship together.

and you will either be VERY wrong x32 for a few days or they will unwittingly plot to cover the whole monthso that someone is always on duty to define your wrongness erery day of the month, including the stray Feb. 29ths.

American Scientist | “In 1665, the great Dutch scientist Christiaan Huygens, inventor of the pendulum clock, wrote to the Royal Society of London to tell them of his discovery of an “odd kind of sympathy” between the pendulums of two clocks hung together. This effect remained a mystery for three and a half centuries, but the Royal Society has now published an explanation of the curious interaction Huygens observed, the result of a study done at the Georgia Institute of Technology…

“According to Steven Strogatz, an applied mathematician at Cornell University, Huygens’s discovery was the first-ever observation of what physicists call coupled oscillation—at least in inanimate objects. In the 20th century, coupled oscillators took on great practical importance because of two discoveries: lasers, in which different atoms give off light waves that all oscillate in unison, and superconductors, in which pairs of electrons oscillate in synchrony, allowing electricity to flow with almost no resistance. Coupled oscillators are even more ubiquitous in nature, showing up, for example, in the synchronized flashing of fireflies and chirping of crickets, and in the pacemaker cells that regulate heartbeats. “The theme of synchronization between coupled oscillators is one of the most pervasive in nature,” Strogatz says.

The Georgia Tech team is now trying to extend its mathematical analysis to formulate a single law that would apply to all coupled oscillators and predict under what conditions they will become synchronized or antisynchronized. “It looks as if there is a mathematical principle that would be equally valid in all these cases,” Wiesenfeld says. “I’m pretty sure we wouldn’t have stumbled across it if we hadn’t had the experience of looking at the problem of Huygens’s clocks.”—Erica Klarreich

Resonance – a phenomena in electromagnetics as well, is the basis for many of the health concerns regarding man made emf… since we are biologically in resonance with the earth. when our cells of the brain or other tissues adapt to a cellphone or other device, it changes us. Much of this has been studied at this point and few of the public know about such ideas.